Friday, April 7, 2017

When sandbox needs a lawyer

Bitcoin: The Australian Tax Office (ATO) currently does not consider bitcoin and other digital currencies money for GST purposes. Instead, bitcoin is considered “a form of `intangible property`” under the GST act and regulations.Consumers using bitcoin to pay for other goods and services are effectively “bearing GST twice”, the government describes. Bitcoin users are taxed when acquiring the digital currency, and again when using it to purchase goods and services.
There is a legal problem. If bitcoin is not a currency then purchases are untaxable swaps.  Skip the Department of Government Rule Making, go to court on this, have the consumption tax invalidated for bitcoin. Unless you have a Sotomayor problem,then nullification is in order.

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